Impact on the environment

Classification

Domain

6. Socioeconomic & Environmental

Subdomain

6.6 Environmental harm

Causal entity

AI

Intent

Other

Timing

Post-deployment

Subdomain definition: The development and operation of AI systems causing environmental harm, such as through energy consumption of data centers, or material and carbon footprints associated with AI hardware.

Real-world incidents in this subdomain

• 5 Jun 2024xAI Allegedly Operates Unpermitted Methane Turbines in Memphis to Power Supercomputer Colossus to Train Grok

How other frameworks describe this risk

• Excessive water consumption

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Electronic waste

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Excessive energy consumption

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Natural resource depletion

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Excessive landfill

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Carbon emissions

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Biodiversity loss

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Pollution

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

Other entries from IBM2025

• - Risk Category
• Lack of training data transparency Risk Sub-Category · 6.5
• Lack of training data transparency Additional evidence
• Uncertain data provenance Risk Sub-Category · 6.5
• Uncertain data provenance Additional evidence
• - Risk Category
• Data usage restrictions Risk Sub-Category · 7.3
• Data usage restrictions Additional evidence
• Data acquisition restrictions Risk Sub-Category · 7.3
• Data acquisition restrictions Additional evidence
• Data transfer restrictions Risk Sub-Category · 7.3
• Data transfer restrictions Additional evidence